The present invention relates to a copying paper processing apparatus having therein a sorter and a stapling device for stapling sorted sheets of copying paper together.
As is well known, a feeder for automatically supplying a manuscript and a sorter are additionally disposed to improve the efficiency in office work with respect to a copying machine so as to automatically sort a plurality of sets of copying paper.
Recently, an apparatus for processing the copying paper has been proposed. In this copying paper processing apparatus, a stapling device is further attached to the copying machine provided with the sorter such that it is possible to staple the plural sorted sheets of copying paper together. Further, a device for making holes for stapling the copying paper by a combination of the automatic manuscript feeder and a finisher has been also proposed. The efficiency in office work in the copying paper processing apparatus has been greatly improved by disposing the sorting and stapling functions in this apparatus. However, an operator sometimes makes a mistake with respect to the operation of the processing apparatus. Namely, the operator sometimes sets a staple mode instead of selecting and setting a sorter mode so that the stapling processing is sometimes performed in a state in which the sorting processing is not correctly performed. Accordingly, it is necessary to sort and staple the plural sheets of copying paper again, thereby reducing the productivity.
When the copying machine is operated in a state in which some sheets of paper are left in bins of the sorter and the sorting and stapling operations are then performed, some sheets of unnecessary paper are stapled together so that it takes time to perform the abovementioned operations again.
Further, when the sheets of copying paper are stapled by the stapling device, there is a case in which the staple mode is not selected and set in error and the copying operation begins to be performed by setting only the sorter mode. Accordingly, in such a case, it is necessary to manually re-staple the sorted copying paper later so that the productivity is reduced.
In another conventional copying paper processing apparatus, the stapling operation is interrupted when the sheets of copying paper sorted and stored within the plurality of sorter bins are stapled by operating the stapling device and the stapling device runs out of staple needle during the stapling operation. Further, the copying operation is also interrupted when it is detected that the stapling device runs out of staple needle while the sorting operation has been completed with respect to a first sorter bin and the copying and sorting operations are continuously performed with respect to the subsequent sorter bin and the stapling operation is sequentially performed with respect to the sorted sheets of paper in the sorter bin. Accordingly, when the stapling device runs out of staple needle, the productivity is reduced since the operation of the copying paper processing apparatus is interrupted.
Further, in the conventional apparatus, the stapling operation is continuously performed in a state in which the stapling device runs out of staple needle, thereby performing the stapling operation without staple needle in a certain case. In such a case, the operator takes the unsorted sheets of copying paper out of the processing apparatus although the operator thinks that the sheets of copying paper have been already sorted, and the productivity is also reduced.
In addition, there is a case in which the stapling device is operated and performs the stapling operation in a state in which there is no paper, thereby uselessly consuming the staple needles and damaging some constructional portions of the processing apparatus.